—al-ʿIjlī, their client, a Kufan bookseller. It was also said that he was Abū ʿAbd Allāh, the copyist in the employ of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā.
He heard ḥadith from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Numayr, Abū Usāmah, Muḥammad ibn Bishr al-ʿAbdī, Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-Juʿfī, Yaʿlā ibn ʿUbayd, his brother Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd, and a number of others.
It was alleged that he also narrated from Ghundar, but that report is not authentic.
Transmitters who took ḥadith from him include al-Bukhārī, Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Mājah, Ibn Abī al-Dunyā, Ibn Abī Dāwūd, Yaḥyā ibn Ṣāʿid, Muḥammad ibn Makhlad, al-Sarrāj, and many more.
Abū Ḥātim and others said: “He is truthful” (1).
Muṭayyin stated that he died in Rajab of the year 256 AH (2).
Among the elevated-chain transmissions that have reached me from him is the ḥadith: “Whoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine…” (3), and it is—
(1) Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Jarh wa-l-Taʿdil, 8:25; al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, 3:41; al-Safadi, al-Wafi bil-Wafayat, 4:82; Ibn Hajar, Tadhhib al-Tadhhib, 9:339, which also quotes Ibn Hibban’s inclusion of him in al-Thiqat (The Reliable Narrators). Muslama describes him as “a trustworthy Baghdadi,” and Ibn ʿAqda relates that he heard Muhammad b. ʿAbd Allah b. Sulayman and Dawud b. Yahya say: “He was truthful.”
(2) Al-Khatib specifies that this occurred in Baghdad; those who placed it in Kufa are mistaken.
(3) Reported by al-Bukhari, Sahih, 11:292 and 295 (Book of Softening the Hearts, chapter on Humility) through the isnad: Muhammad b. ʿUthman b. Karama – Khalid b. Mukhled – Sulayman b. Bilal – Sharik b. ʿAbd Allah b. Abi Numayr – ʿAtaʾ – Abu Hurayra. The Prophet said: “Allah said: ‘Whoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine, I declare war on him. My servant draws nearer to Me with nothing dearer to Me than what I have made obligatory upon him, and he continues to draw nearer to Me through supererogatory acts until I love him. When I love him, I become his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks. If he asks of Me, I will surely grant him; if he seeks refuge in Me, I will surely protect him. I have never hesitated about anything I do as I hesitate to take the soul of the believer: he dislikes death and I dislike distressing him.’” Although Khalid b. Mukhled and likewise Sharik b. ʿAbd Allah have been critiqued, Ibn Hajar notes that the hadith has several additional chains whose combined weight confirms its authenticity, and he proceeds to cite them.